All Things Must Come to an End
by The Nancinator
Summary: Lily, James, and the Rest of the Maruaders are a team. Friends till the end. But in the month before that fatefull Halloween 1981, things start to tear apart. Goes trough Lily and James' deaths, the false death of Peter, and the imprisonment of Sirius.


A/N: Ah, you've heard it all before. I Don't own anything in this story. It all belongs to the almighty J.K Rowling. *bows and worships*   
  
"If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals." -Sirius Black  
  
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Chapter 1: Kisses, Sandwiches, and Magazines  
  
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A crisp autumn's breeze flew in an open window on the top landing of Godric's Hollow. Circling about the room, it gently caressed the fiery red hair of a young woman before making its way back into the outside world. The young woman, irritated by this sudden intrusion, brushed the hair from her rosy face and hurried to close the window. The sun was beginning to set as she gazed out the window. She could make out a faint shadow of the moon amongst the palate of reds, yellows, blues, and purples in the sky.   
  
  
  
The woman released a heavy sigh and walked back up to the crib of her one year old infant. Lily Potter gazed with her brilliant green eyes upon her son, Harry, with all the love and admiration mothers hold towards their children. She caressed his tuft of jet black hair, so much like her husbands. Her attention was diverted to his eyes. They were her eyes, practically identical. This caused Lily to grin. "looks like you got the best of both worlds, huh kid? Your fathers trademark hair," she stopped at this to twirl his small pieces of hair, which already began to poke up in the back as James' tended to do. "And of course, my eyes…"   
  
  
  
The baby looked up at his mother. Although Harry could not understand her foreign words, the ear to ear smile that occupied her face was enough reason to make him giggle appreciatively. For some reason there was a special kind of bond between the two, although Lily could not quite put her finger on it. Whenever they were together, she forgot all of the happenings of the outside world. Voldemort and his countless death eaters were a non-existent threat in their world. Here it was just her, and her son. Forever.   
  
She picked Harry up and walked over to the rocker James' parents had presented to them at her baby shower. According to Mrs. Potter (A/N: James' mother) when James was an infant, he would fall asleep the moment the chair began to rock. It seemed to have a somewhat similar effect on Harry. As Lily began to sway to and fro, yawns emitted from the baby she held in her arms. Instinctively as mothers do, she began humming the notes of a tune long forgotten. Her mother used to sing this song to her long ago, on nights she was afraid, lonely, or just wished to be sung to. Within moments little Harry was well into a deep slumber.   
  
Walking across the room, she gently placed her son back into the comforts of his crib. "Good night Harry. Sweet, sweet dreams." And with that last remark, she closed the door to his nursery.   
  
'Well, now that he's finally asleep…' she thought, and began to turn around to head downstairs to wait for her husband. But someone reached her first and grabbed her around the waist. Lily, rather startled, emitted a loud shriek of surprise.  
  
"Gotcha!!" Boomed James, her husband and best friend, from behind.   
  
Lily turned around to see James grinning mischievously, with that devilishly arrogant look upon his face. It infuriated her so much for him to do things like that, and he was well aware of this.  
  
"JAMES POTTER! DON'T YOU EVER DO THAT TO ME AGAIN!!"  
  
"Shhh!!!" motioned James as he put a finger to his lips, his smile still blatantly wide. "You'll wake up our darling Harry if you're not careful."  
  
"Oh, don't you shhh me!" retorted Lily as she smacked his finger away from his lips. The tone of her voice was quite serious and firm, but they both knew that she wouldn't be able to hold her ground much longer. Especially Lily. Although back in their school days she would publicly announce her hatred for James' childishness, nowadays it seemed rather cute to see him playing a trick or two. And that smile of his- that smile that made her heart melt…  
  
Alas, when James displayed the "puppy dog face", a corner of her mouth twitched as she tried to resist from smiling at the man she loved. James laughed at this inner struggle of hers, picked Lily up from the ground, pulled her into a strong embrace, and kissed her.   
  
The kisses that these two experienced were, put quite simply, pure magic. Even here, in the hallway of their own home they were in a state of euphoria. Lily placed her arms around James' neck as James ran his hands along her upper torso. Before either of them were aware of it, they were sprawled out across the floor. Their legs intertwined in an elegant fashion, and James began to kiss Lily around her neck.   
  
"James, I love you." They Kissed again.   
  
  
  
They broke apart briefly, just enough time for James to utter and "I love you too" back to his wife.  
  
After about five minutes or so, as things began to intensify, James stopped.   
  
"Hey, Lils?"  
  
"Hmm?" Lily replied.  
  
"Sirius, Remus, and Peter are downstairs waiting, and I think I'd get the hell laughed out at me from Sirius if he came up here and saw us snogging on the floor. Especially since it's in front of Harry's room."  
  
Lily let out a little chuckle at this. "Yea, if it wasn't us… I'd make fun of us too."  
  
James smiled, and then motioned to get up and walk downstairs to join his friends.   
  
"But, wait! Don't leave just yet." Lily pulled James back to the ground by the top of his robes and brought her mouth to his ear. She whispered gently, "Let's go in our room. For just five minutes. I swear I'll make it worthwhile to you." James pulled away, and Lily was wearing a smile much like the one James normally adorned. He could not help stare at her and tell himself that this woman was most definitely made for him.   
  
James picked Lily off the carpet and ran with her down the hallway, straight towards their bedroom. He closed the door behind them, and carefully locked it. Now it was time to tend to the matter at hand…  
  
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DOWNSTAIRS  
  
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"Where in bloody hell is James? We've been waiting down here for over fifteen minutes for him to come back down with Lily." Remus was seated on a recliner in the Potter's living room, wearing a rather worried expression. He checked his watch once again. Now it was Sixteen minutes! This was no time for James to be playing around or taking his time. The Dark Lord was gaining more and more strength with each passing day, and it was only a matter of time before something bad would happen.  
  
Sirius strutted out of the kitchen, a turkey sandwich in one hand and a bottle of butterbeer in the other, and turned to face Remus. "Language Moony, my dear friend! Anyway, I thought you'd know James better by now!" He took a large bite out of his sandwich and continued. "Our Little Prongsie is most likely upstairs putting the moves on Lily. You know, seeing her flower, if you get my drift."  
  
"Well, I figured that out of James, but this isn't exactly the time for that! Dumbledore said he wants to see us in his office at Seven!" Remus exclaimed.   
  
Sirius took a swig of his butterbeer. He put on his most accusatory face and said, "First off, and don't forget it, there's always time for.. That!" He stopped to smile to himself and take in what he just said. In a more laid back manner, he continued. "Second, we'll be there on time. We'll just apparate there."   
  
Remus stood from his recliner. "If you'd ever taken the time to read 'Hogwarts: A History', then you'd know that you can't apparate onto Hogwarts premises!" 'Will they ever learn? I must have told them hundreds of times back in school.'  
  
"Calm down there, Remus." motioned Sirius. "We can always just floo there then."  
  
Remus recognized defeat and sat down. "Point taken, Patfoot, point taken."  
  
Sirius' smile grew, if possible, even larger. Then, without warning, he ran towards the couch and jumped with all of his might on top of it. This was much to the dismay of Peter, who until that moment had been sitting quietly on a nearby chair reading Lily's latest copy of 'Witch Weekly'.  
  
"Watch it!" shouted Peter as Sirius' leg kicked at the magazine.   
  
"Ah, loosen up, Wormtail." Sirius looked over in his direction, and noticed that magazine for the first time. He grabbed it before Peter could even resist. A wild smile appeared on his face as he read the headline of the article Peter was so engrossed in. "Well, what's this we have here?   
  
Peter turned a deep shade of puce before attempting at grabbing the magazine from Sirius' clutches. But Sirius, thanks to his sharpened quidditch reflexes, had jumped off the couch and was now running around the living room, magazine held high in the air.   
  
"How to brew the perfect love potion for the one you want?" Sirius was laughing so hard that he fell to the ground and began to roll about. Gasping for breath between laughs, he managed to add, "Now seriously Pete, I don't think even a love potion would do any help for you!"  
  
"Give me that!" Shouted Peter as he snatched the copy of 'Witch Weekly' from Sirius' hands. Sirius was way too involved in laughing and shooting snide remarks at Peter to even care that Peter had taken it back. Even Remus, who for the most part disproved of Sirius' usual antics, found the situation rather comical and joined in on the laughter.   
  
"Hey, what's so funny?"  
  
The group stopped everything they were doing to look up at the staircase, where the voice had come from. There stood James and Lily. Both were grasping each other by the waist, looking rather unkempt. James' hair was, if possible, even messier than it usually stood. His robes were thrown on rather carelessly, and his tie was draped around his shoulder. From a distance Remus could spot Lily's pink lipstick smeared across his face. Lily did not fare any better. Her hair, usually combed and tidy, was tangled ad wildly positioned around her face. The sleek black robes she adorned were wrinkled and not buttoned properly. Sirius took this as a perfect opportunity to poke fun at his best friend and wife.  
  
"Hey There James," Sirius called from his position on the floor. "Having some fun with Lily up there? Well I-"  
  
"Oh, shove it Padfoot." replied James, who had moved down from the staircase and gave Sirius a swift kick in the arse. Before long the two were locked in a fierce wrestling match.   
  
Lily looked upon the two best friends in humor. Remus, however, was not at all in a laughing mood.  
  
"PRONGS, PADFOOT, NOW!"  
  
James and Sirius both looked up to see Remus looking very disgruntled. He stood in front of them, arms crossed and frowning.   
  
"Sorry, mother." James and Sirius muttered.  
  
"Good Merlin, guys, I'm not trying to be a pest. But we DO need to get to Dumbledore's office sometime soon. He's expecting us!"   
  
Lily's eyes widened at this new information. "What do you mean? Dumbledore wants to see us…"  
  
"Oh, yea. I forgot to mention that." James interjected as he stood up and brushed the dust off his robes.   
  
Sirius was now standing. "Yea, you were too busy with… other things."  
  
James punched Sirius hard in the ribs. "Sorry Lils. This is important though. And we have to bring Harry." He then brought his face close to Lily's own and whispered so that only she could hear. "It has something to do with Voldemort and the prophecy."  
  
Lily's stomach gave a definite jolt and her eyes widened. Her and James had been fearing that something would happen soon. They learned of this prophecy shortly after Harry's birth, but nothing had happened since. Secretly Lily hoped that it was meant for that Longbottom boy, and not her Harry.   
  
"Lily, you okay?" James knocked her back into reality.   
  
"Oh, yes. Well, great!" Lily tried her hardest to keep her composure. "I just put Harry to bed."  
  
"Well it looks like he needs to get up, because we need to get going."  
  
Lily ran up the stairs swiftly towards Harry's nursery. James was fixing himself up. Within two minutes Lily was back downstairs with a very sleep Harry in tow. She had also found time to tidy herself up a bit.   
  
"Alright," began Remus as he walked towards the fireplace. "Everybody ready?" He grabbed the small flowerpot filled with powder on the mantle as Peter stood from his seat. Him and the rest of the group gathered around the fireplace.   
  
"Hogwarts!" Remus shouted. And in a swirl of green flame, he was gone. Peter had gone next, followed by Sirius. James grabbed a handful, gave Lily a kiss on the cheek, and disappeared as well.   
  
At last it was Lily's turn. She held Harry very tightly to her chest and walked into the fireplace. It was a warm sensation, and little Harry seemed to be enjoying it. He was giggling and playing at Lily's red locks of hair. She smiled, and then with a twinge of apprehension, shouted "Howgwarts!" The colors of her living room began to fade away as her and Harry began to spin forcefully. All the while, Lily could not help thinking that she wasn't going to look forward to what the other side held in store for her.  
  
  
  
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A/N: Like it? Let me know by reviewing, because I 3 reviews!!! 


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